he who was the most forward and active in the impeachment, had abated in his warmth since he was out of place.* At length, a feigned quarrel as to the mode of proceeding arose between the two houses, and no prosecutors appearing on the day fixed for the continuance of the trial, Oxford was unanimously acquitted.

In

Walpole also, and the Whigs in opposition, whom Shippen humorously called his new allies, zealously supported the inquiry into the conduct of lord Cadogan, instituted June 4th, for fraud in the charge of transporting the Dutch troops, at the time of the rebellion, to and from Great Britain. Walpole spoke in this debate near two hours, and in the course of his speech, strained his voice so high, and used such violent efforts, that the blood burst from his nose, and he was obliged to retire from the house. answer to his arguments, it was ably observed by Lechmere, that the inquiry was frivolous, the result of party malice, and of the same nature with those which had been instituted against Marlborough, Townshend, and Walpole himself; and he justly observed, that those persons who were now most zealous about the inquiry, had been silent about these pretended frauds while they continued in place. But the advocates for the inquiry were so powerful, that it was negatived only by a majority of 10 voices.‡

Whatever were the motives by which Walpole

was guided, he considerably influenced the house of commons, during the whole time of his opposition. Three days after his resignation, Stanhope having moved for granting the sum of £.250,000 to enable the king to concert measures against Sweden; and Pulteney, who had just resigned his place of secretary at war, having inveighed with great vehemence against a German ministry, the motion was in great danger of being lost, till Walpole closed the debate, by observing, "That having already spoken in favour of the supply, he should now vote for it;" and the motion, in consequence of his interference, was carried without a division.* A few words in favour of Mr. Jackson, who had offended the house by declaring that there were amongst them a set of men who made it their study and business to embarrass the government, saved him from the Tower. And when Shippen said, "the speech from the throne seemed rather calculated for the meridian of Germany, than of Great Britain," and urged, as the only infelicity of his majesty's reign, that he was unacquainted with our language and constitution; a few palliating expressions from Walpole would have been attended with the same effect, if the inflexible orator had not maintained what he had advanced, and by that obstinacy occasioned his own commitment. Even in the article of supplies, he occasionally prevailed against the ministry. In speaking for the diminution of the army * Historical Register.-Chandler.-Tindal. † Chandler, vol. 6. p. 157.

estimates, his proposal, that £. 650,000, instead of £. 681,618, should be granted for defraying the charges of guards and garrisons, * was adopted; and in the same session, when the ministry demanded £. 130,361, for the pay of reduced officers, and the Tories would only grant £. 80,000, Walpole proposed a medium of £. 99,000; and his motion was carried without a division.

A proposal from the South Sea company, for advancing £.700,000, having been accepted by the house, some of the members were for applying it towards the present and growing necessities of the government. But in a grand committee of ways and means, Jan. 12, 1719, Walpole, in favour of his sinking fund, insisting that the public debts already incurred should be first considered, a resolution was taken, and a bill afterwards brought in, directing the application of this money, agreeably to his sentiments. "It is indeed plain," adds a virulent pamphleteer,. who decried the administration of Sir Robert Walpole, that "in all transactions of money affairs, the house relied more upon his judgment than on that of any other member."t

Thus it appears that Walpole, even when in opposition, almost managed the house of commons; and being in opposition he could not gain that ascendancy, by the means of corruption and influence, which were afterwards so repeatedly urged against him, and which the Chandler, vol. 6. p. 175.

+ History of the Administration of Sir Robert Walpole, p. 113,

same virulent author calls "some SECRET MAGIC of which he seemed to have been a perfect master.” In fact, the magic which he applied, was derived from profound knowledge of finance, great skill in debate, in which perspicuity and sound sense were eminently conspicuous, unimpeached integrity of character, and the assistance of party.

Walpole was no less vehement in his opposition to those measures of government which related to foreign affairs, and which, at this time, embraced a very large field for approbation or censure. The fatal The fatal consequences of the peace of Utrecht, placed England in a very delicate situation between the opposite pretensions of Spain and Austria. To satisfy both was impracticable; but the alliance with France, concerted by Walpole and Townshend, and the necessity of opposing the unjust schemes and dangerous intrigues of cardinal Alberoni, compelled Great Britain to side with the Emperor. Yet though it was generally known that Spain, in concert with Sweden, meditated a descent on our coasts, to overturn the established government, and set the Pretender on the throne; though Philip the Fifth grasped at the possession of Gibraltar and Minorca, and was labouring for the subversion of the regent's power in France; and the ambition of his consort, Elizabeth Farnese, aimed at the acquisition of the Italian provinces for her son; though a Spanish fleet had been sent into the Mediterranean, and a Spanish army had overrun the kingdom of Sardinia, and threatened the reduction of Sicily, no attempt seems to have

been wanting on the side of England, to induce the king of Spain, by persuasion, to adopt pacific measures. Immediate preparations were arranged with the Emperor, France, and the United Provinces, and every proper measure was concerted with those powers to prevent hostilities. Cadogan was sent to the Hague, du Bois came to London, and settled with the ministry terms for an accommodation between the Emperor and the king of Spain.* George the First even proposed the cession of Gibraltar,† on the consideration of an equivalent, and permitted the regent duke of Orleans to make the offer to the king of Spain, if he would ratify the terms specified in the treaty, called the quadruple alliance, which was passed at London on the 2nd of August 1718, between the Emperor, England, and France, and afterwards acceded to by the United Provinces.

By this alliance, the Emperor renounced all claims to the crown of Spain, consented, that Tuscany, Parma, and Placencia, as male fiefs of the empire, should descend, in default of male heirs, to Don Carlos, eldest son of Elizabeth Farnese, by Philip the Fifth. In return for these concessions, the Emperor was to be gratified with the possession of Sicily, in lieu of which territory, Sardinia was to be allotted to Victor Amadeus. The terms to be imposed on Philip were, the renunciation of all claims to the dominions of the Emperor, in Italy, and the

* Tindal, vol. 19. p. 167.

† See Chapter on Gibraltar, in Period IV.